The announcements made by the United States and China, ahead of the Copenhagen conference on Climate Change to be held in December, are 'sheer hype and hyperbole', according to the Centre for Science and Environment. The US spoke of an absolute emission reduction target of 17 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020, while China said it would reduce its energy intensity per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by 40-45 per cent by 2020.
The Obama administration has said that too much is being read into the joint United States-China statement issued by President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Hu Jintao in Beijing. The statement had irked the Indian administration on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US, as New Delhi perceived it as an attempt to interfere in the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan.
Most Americans believe close relationship between the United States and China is good for their country, according to a latest poll on Tuesday.
Known to be having extensive expertise in dealing with India's neighbourhood as well as the US, China and Europe, the 1988-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer pipped nearly half-a-dozen others in the race for the coveted post including Indian High Commissioner to UK Gaitri Issar Kumar (1986-batch IFS) and Ruchira Kamboj (1987 batch IFS).
While the delegation accompanying Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on his 9th India-Asean summit said that the India-China relationship was a 'complex' one, they also emphasised that India-US relations were in good shape, reports Saisuresh Sivaswamy, who is a part of his media delegation accompanying the prime minister to Bali.
Habitat Centre in New Delhi arranged Eminent Persons Lecture series on 'Geo-Political Consequences of Current Financial and Economic Crisis: Implications for India.' In his keynote speech, Shyam Saran, special envoy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former foreign secretary, spoke about the changes taking place around the world.
Habitat Centre in New Delhi arranged Eminent Persons Lecture series on 'Geo-Political Consequences of Current Financial and Economic Crisis: Implications for India.' In his keynote speech, Shyam Saran, special envoy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former foreign secretary, spoke about the changes taking place around the world.
The about two-hour-long conversation between the two leaders over a secure video call focused on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, it said.
US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday held their first in-person meeting in Bali, with both leaders underscoring the need to manage their differences and prevent a conflict, amid Beijing's coercive military posturing against Taiwan and in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
While other leading wheat producing countries like China and U.S are witnessing a decline in output, India has stood as an exception with an estimated record production of 84.27 tonnes of the staple foodgrain this year.
Hitting back at the United States, China on Sunday came out with a report on America's human rights record accusing Washington of turning a 'blind eye to its own terrible human rights situation.'
Observing that China has been anxiously watching the rise of Indo-United States relationship, a former top US diplomat believes New Delhi doesn't want to be caught in this Sino-US game at the global level.
The United States threatened to take military action against China during a secret 'star wars' arms race within the past few years, according to documents leaked by whistle-blowing web site WikiLeaks.
Seven months after it was launched in India, Apple is expected to start manufacturing the iPhone 13 at the Foxconn plant in Sriperumbudur near Chennai from April, according to sources. The phones will be for both the domestic and export market. The production of the iPhone 13 in the Chennai plant was meant to start from January but had to be postponed after Apple suspended production following protests in December by women workers about food poisoning. An Apple spokesperson did not respond to an e-mail query.
China on Tuesday hinted that its growing relationship with India was independent of its ties with Pakistan with whom it was promoting a comprehensive cooperation as part of an "established policy".
India has overtaken the US and China to emerge as the largest developer location for Sun Microsystems, with over 6.29 lakh programmers working on Java and Solaris platforms.
In a major relief to Indian information technology (IT) companies operating in Australia, Canberra has agreed to amend its domestic laws to stop taxing offshore income of such Indian companies, as part of the free trade deal inked. This may lead to savings up to $200 million each year for over 100 Indian IT companies operating in Australia. "The Government of Australia has agreed to amend the domestic taxation law to stop the taxation of offshore income of Indian firms providing technical services to Australia. "This will resolve the issue that the Indian government has raised about the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) between the two governments for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income," said a commerce ministry official.
'Laws have been used in a way to serve the needs of the current regime and its authoritarian ideology.'
India on Tuesday distanced from the ongoing Sino-US row over revaluation of Chinese currency yuan saying it is their bilateral issue.
Talks between Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to improve the relations got off on a rough note at the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin, with Xie launching a blistering attack on Washington, accusing it of being the "owner of coercive diplomacy".
China has said that it successfully carried out a land-based mid-course anti-ballistic missile (ABM) technical test on Sunday with Chinese experts claiming that the tests, stated to be the sixth of its kind, validated the reliability of the country's anti-ballistic missile umbrella.
The fault line between the West and Russia has widened into a deep chasm and this is likely to endure in the foreseeable future. Far from forcing its way into the European tent, Russia may be reduced to the status of an even more sullen and weakened bystander on its periphery. The US appears to have won this hand with little cost to itself, observes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
Bharat Karnad said except for nuclear weapons, "Without indigenous production of its own weapons, a great power cannot have security," and said, "The armed services of India is remiss in not promoting and assisting the production of indigenous equipment."
The issue of climate change is going to dominate the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which is being attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Wednesday held a meeting with visiting Chinese General Xu Caiho during which they discussed smoother military cooperation and a combined strategy to create a more stable and secure environment in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The annual threat assessment of the US Intelligence Community released by the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) also said that the 'expanded military posture by both India and China along the disputed border elevates the risk of armed confrontation between two nuclear powers that might involve direct threats to US persons and interests and calls for US intervention'.
The industry alleges the government has been apathetic, despite their pleas for quick action. However, H2 may be different as The US-China trade war had opened a window for Indian exporters to ship more to America.
Economic recovery from the pandemic in the US has helped India achieve the $400-billion mark for exports for the first time in any fiscal year. According to the preliminary data compiled by the Department of Commerce, India exported goods worth $73 billion to the US from April 1 to March 21 - up 47 per cent, compared to last year. The US' share of exports, compared to total exports, stood at 18.2 per cent. The country is also India's largest trading partner and export destination.
'For the first time, all major countries are discovering India's indispensability to their own foreign policy interests.'
The EIU said in a report on Wednesday forecast that the real GDP grew by 1.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter in India, but noted that this uptick was largely owing to base effect.
'India is possibly the most fiscally constrained market in the region.'
The statement hinted at China's eagerness not to upset the United States, with which it want to maintain good relations.
China has dismissed global forecasts that a democratic India will overtake the Communist giant on the economic front by 2020, saying those predictions lacked "statistical evidence."
Investors are anxious over the US-China trade tension, a sharp devaluation in yuan and uncertainty over Kashmir issue.
Top laggards in the Sensex pack were Vedanta, IndusInd Bank, Yes Bank, Tata Steel, ONGC, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, M&M, TCS and Hero MotoCorp, dropping up to 5.39 per cent.
India's fertiliser subsidy bill is likely to shoot up by 55 per cent to record Rs 2.5 lakh crore this fiscal as the government will provide additional funds to make up for the spike in cost from higher import price, top sources said on Thursday. The government will ensure that there is no shortage of fertilisers in the country during the kharif (summer-sown) and rabi (winter-sown) season and it is already in talks with major global producers to import key soil nutrients, they added. According to the sources, Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is likely to visit many countries, including Saudi Arabia, Oman and Morocco, soon to secure imports on both short and long term basis.
India has overtaken the United States (US) to become the second-most sought-after manufacturing destination globally, driven mainly by cost competitiveness, according to real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield. China remains at number one position, the consultant said in its 2021 Global Manufacturing Risk Index, which assessed the most advantageous locations for global manufacturing among 47 countries in Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific (APAC). "India takes the second spot after China as the most sought-after manufacturing destination globally," Cushman and Wakefield said in a statement. The US is at third position, followed by Canada, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Lithuania, Thailand, Malaysia and Poland. In last year's report, the US was at second position while India ranked third.
'Is China's intention not clear?' 'Do we still think that if we are nice to China, it will be good to us?'
